Ant Landscape

3rd Grade

Monta Loma Elementary 

Mountain View, California

This is a fantastic Line lesson to explore different kinds of line, and how lines create visual texture, and symbolism.


I had the students first close their eyes, and image themselves as an ant, digging through the ground into the different layers of the earth.

I asked them what does your ant see? What does the texture of the soil feel like as your ant digs through it? What kinds of objects does your ant find in each layer? How can you make lines that emulate those things?

We then brainstormed how to draw a line that implies something (symbolically). For example, a wavy line could represent muddy, fluid-like soil. Spiky lines could be grass, or metal. Squared lines could be the cityscape above ground, etc.


I loved the arrangement of creativity with this project, as I taught it to 2 different 3rd grade classes. Some students were really interested in drawing found objects in their layers, or even creating an ant "farm" if you will. Below are examples! (click to enlarge!)